Stephen’s Special Run Continues For State
April 13, 2024 | Baseball
Bulldog righty hurled eight shutout innings against the rival Rebels.
OXFORD, Miss. – Friday nights in the Southeastern Conference are a war, and there isn't anyone Mississippi State would like to go to battle for them more than Khal Stephen.
The junior right-handed pitcher has been a tone setter for the Bulldogs, dominating opposing lineups with his pinpoint fastball and a multitude of off-speed pitches.
Stephen has shoved in his last four starts as he's combined for only three earned runs in 27.1 innings. His two most recent outings against Georgia and Ole Miss have been truly special. He went 6.2 innings with zero earned runs allowed against UGA followed by eight shutout innings against the Rebels Friday night, the first Bulldog to go eight-plus innings since Will Bednar at Alabama in 2021.
"It's obviously really important," Stephen said. "Just setting the tone and having the team rally behind that is really special."
The Purdue transfer has lowered his season earned run average to 2.84 after entering that streak with a 5.01 ERA. The key has been pounding the strike zone and playing off his riding fastball with a slider. He has a strike rate of 67 percent in his last four starts and has struck out 29 batters to just seven walks in that span.
"He's just gotten better and he's confident," head coach Chris Lemonis said. "That off-speed the last couple weeks, he can throw at any time, any pitch. And then that fastball just has a lot of ride to it and he can really command it, so it makes it tough for hitters."
The Friday night game against Ole Miss was also a piece of redemption for Stephen, who surrendered eight earned runs in two innings when his Boilermakers took on the Rebels last year. Now repping Maroon and White, Stephen was locked in during the series opener between historic rivals.
The 6-foot-4 righty's competitive edge showed when he took the mound, as a pitcher's duel early on between him and the Rebels made every pitch that much more important. The two teams entered the fifth inning tied 0-0, and Stephen never cracked. The Bulldogs scraped a run across for him in the top of the fifth before scoring seven runs in the sixth fueled by a Dakota Jordan home run.
Stephen finished the game allowing only four base runners on three hits and a hit batter during his eight innings, and he never allowed two base runners in the same inning. His three hits allowed tied for a season-best and his nine strikeouts are his most against an SEC opponent.
"Obviously it's in the back of your mind a little bit," Stephen said of last year's performance against Ole Miss. "But you just come out here and compete and give it all you can."
Between the fifth and eighth innings, Stephen retired 11 consecutive Ole Miss hitters. His stuff just seemed to get better as the game went on as he picked up another strikeout to close that eighth inning. Even while the Bulldogs were batting around in the sixth, Stephen stayed mentally locked in and remained loose by tossing some rubber balls in the dugout.
"You know it used to be harder, and now they have these rubber balls," Lemonis said. "I don't know if you ever look in our dugout, he's slinging it against the wall that whole inning. It really is something because they're not allowed to throw out here, so they're able to keep themselves a little bit fresher. I think it's more mental. That's what you worry about with those guys sitting around too long."
Stephen's adrenaline had him wanting to go back out there for the ninth, but with an eight-run lead, it was best to keep him ready for next week's matchup with Auburn. Instead, Tyson Hardin shut the door on Mississippi State's first shutout of an SEC opponent since the 9-0 victory over Vanderbilt to win the national championship in 2021.
"8-0 in the eighth and getting ready for another start next week is just the right thing to do," Lemonis said. "But he was awesome. He just dominated the game from the first pitch."
